Julius is still 21. When he hits his prime in 5 years, more than half of the players you listed will be on their decline.
both would have to improve quite a bit. it's possible, though, as both are hard workers. and yes, the technical designation of allstar is a result of many factors (quality of other players at the position, team success, injuries, etc.), so you shoot for all star caliber: this guy is good enough to be in the pool of reasonable candidates each year. so maybe, top 25% of players at his spot? i could see randle getting there.
I'm behind on the argument but Julius has All-Star potential. Any sort of jump shot makes him nearly unguardable offensively. He's got a long way to go defensively though and that's what will separate him from All-Star for the foreseeable future.
^yes, Jump shot should be high on his list. He even shoots a few threes here and there which shows range is not so much an issue. IMO his problem is that he isn't comfortable shooting. The motion is kind of mechanic with him. Its not fluid and natural. I don't have a problem with his release per se because I think thats overrated. You can have a weird looking shot but as long as it goes in and you are comfortable, thats fine with me. But the mental aspect of always being in the flow of shooting without hesitation and feeling comfortable and believing that its going in...thats not in his DNA right now and its tough to "learn". Shooting isn't just practice, it requires talent and the mental makeup. There is a reason why so many people struggle to shoot in games, even when open but hit like every shot while working out. I'm sure they all work on shooting...it is probably the most "fun" part of basketball training, thats how everyone falls in love with the game. Its not so much that guys aren't working on it. Its more the mental aspect they never master. Kobe for example worked on his shots even though he was never a consistent sniper. He was never a dead-eye shooter but he had the mental aspect mastered. He could jabstep left and right, turn around, fall away and still hit a double clutch jumpshot. You simply can't teach that stuff. Shooting after a few pumpfakes is already amazingly difficult, let alone when you are off-balance and create contact to go along with it. That stuff is mainly mental because every NBA guard has a certain shooting ability one way or another but only a handful can make those shots.
I don't quite understand what you're saying. Jump shooting is about repetition and developing the confidence that comes with that repetition. What Julius lacks is repetition. He'll get there.
i think the kind of shooting randle needs to master is very different from the kind a perimeter player needs to master. randle just needs draymond green/udonis haslem type shooting ability: if you leave me wide stinking open, i will make this standstill shot. if he develops a standstill 18 footer, a standstill three from the corner and 45 degree angle, and a simple turnaround in the paint, he becomes a 15-18ppg scorer, imo. and that's without developing the off hand. in other words, he'll never need to come off a screen, pull up off the dribble, or upfake prior to launching a shot (or if he does, it means the offense broke down completely). also, i'm not sure kobe wasn't a deadeye shooter. his percentages don't indicate it, but i think that reflects shot quality. didn't he lead the league in catch and shoot three point percentage one year? it's kind of like harden right now: his percentages say he's not a good shooter, but you wouldn't dare give him an open three on the catch. anyway, back to randle. guys have proven they can develop the rudimentary shooting skill that i describe above, but there certainly are as many stories of failure as of success (haslem, ibaka, green, bruce bowen, kawhi leonard is a crazy success story, as he can pull up off the dribble). you just can't recall the failures because they're not in the league. and by failure, i don't mean odom, who clearly never worked on his game--i mean guys who really worked at developing a jumper and couldn't.
Form is another essential part of the jumper. Julius's is invinsistent. He needs good practice. Not just reps. Totally agree about shot type. Julius is going to be getting bodied up on many of his shots. He needs strength (which he has) and stability (which he'll have to keep developing).
Agreed 100% on Julius's need to develop a simple catch-and-shoot three. Draymond very very rarely dribbles into a jumper, Julius shouldn't either. The jumper is simply a weapon to open up the drive which Julius is already better at than Draymond. With a jumper Randle already surpasses Draymond offensively and like you said has the ability to score in the mid-to-high teens on a nightly basis. But if we're still talking about potential All-Star levels he needs a ton of work defensively. What bugs me most about him is his unwillingness to block shots. He showed flashes of being able to do it, but he never took pride on that end of the ball. Hopefully Luke can change his mentality there.
since the end of the season, i've heard or seen ZERO about Julius...curious to see if he's putting in work like JC and DLo
He is .... bet on it. But Julius is more old school and less needing to "look at how hard I'm working" all his fans. :Headbang:
Background. There are also other pictures I've seen this off-season of him working hard. He's definitely putting in the time just not getting as much attention as JC and Russ, which is fine. Proof will be next season's overall progress.
He's not that kind of cat. Julius goes about his business more quietly, but he's been around the facility.
Julius doesn't post a million pics of himself on Twitter either. I don't know about Instagram. I don't go there.
Out of all the young guys on our team, Julius is the one that I would never worry about if he's working on his game or not. He's working, no question about it.
